Why did the Lord create man with the freedom to rebel, and by this allow all of the pain and suffering that has come upon the world? Freedom. There must be freedom for there to be true worship, or true friendship. We can teach a parrot to say the right things, but they will not be from its heart. Likewise, we can compel men to say and do the right things, but they will not be in their hearts. As we have read in 2 Corinthians 3:17, “where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” ...

      God made every snowflake, every leaf on every tree, and even every person unique. So, where does the human pressure to conform come from? One thing we can be sure of is that this pressure does not come from the Spirit of the Lord, so we must reject it.

      Our present education system feeds the pressure to conform by rewarding it and its compliance while punishing individuality, innovation, and creativity. The result is that those who conform to the system are the most conditioned to be overly fearful of and threatened by any who do not comply with...

      Leo Tolstoy described prophecy as “a spark that is lit in a dry wood.” He said, “It will burn and burn until the wood, hay, and stubble is consumed.” He used slavery as an example of this in history. Slavery was found in virtually every nation and tribe on earth until it was clearly articulated in human language that it was evil. He said that spark was lit by the novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which so powerfully described the evils of slavery that it became intolerable in civilized nations until it was eradicated by every available means, including...

      As we have already covered, God’s unity is a unity of diversity, not a unity by conformity. That is so important to understand. This is a reason why there is so much about the antichrist in the book of Revelation, which is stated in Revelation 1:1 to be “the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Discernment to distinguish between that which is of Christ and that which is from the antichrist is crucial. Distinguishing God’s unity from the devil’s is crucial to this.

      For those who live in this world that is under the power of the evil one,...

      The first requirement that leads to koinonia is to be Christ-centered not man centered. We may think that koinonia is what we have with other believers, which is true. However, it is not really possible if the Lord Himself is not in the middle of our relationships with others, and the main purpose for them.

      One factor that leads to koinonia, the ultimate form of fellowship with others, and with God is when our hearts begin to burn like King David’s for the Lord to have a place to dwell. That’s the heart that will likely bring...